On April 30th, 2017, I had the honor of sharing the stage with a dozen other brave and honest women at Saint Andrews Hall in Detroit for theGrand Finale Season of Listen To Your Mother, a national, live storytelling event. Unfortunately the budget didn’t allow for the “massive endeavor requiring thousands of woman-hours” for video, but we have pictures… and stories. The stories will live on.

You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone’s soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows that they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift. ― Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus

The Metro Detroit show

Our first rehearsal was exciting, even though the thirteen of us were strangers (I knew only one other writer, Desiree Cooper). At the second rehearsal, it was clear to me that somehow, already, we had been changed by the act of sharing our stories. I felt each story much differently, as if my awareness had been heightened. I cried, whether the tale was sad or happy.

I noticed I wasn’t the only one, either.

Not surprisingly, I broke down half way through my reading, and could barely finish reading my piece about the guilt and shame of losing a son to suicide. I remember looking through tears over to our co-producers, wishing they might rescue me, maybe even take the paper from my hand and finish for me. Instead, Angela assured me I was doing just fine. I honestly don’t know how I managed to find the strength to finish.

The act of telling the story aloud on stage profoundly changed me. I owned my story and my grief. And it was all right.

Storytelling

Storytelling is what connects us to our humanity. It makes the impossible possible and the unimaginable real. It links us to our past and provides a glimpse into our future. Telling and listening to stories heals us.

The members of this year’s cast stories included

Managing the Unimaginable― a mother’s trauma delivering a stillborn daughter

Leaving for Las Vegas― planning a much needed vacation away from children

It’s Complicated― teaching kids to deal with a contrary grandmother who doesn’t often set the best example

On stage, each of us soared. The emotions involved in sharing our stories was palpable. Each of us felt the audience was with us, holding us up, cheering us on, laughing, crying, accepting and forgiving. It was an experience I will never forget.

No matter how difficult and painful it may be, nothing sounds as good to the soul as the truth. ~ Martha Beck

“…at once a love story, a cautionary tale, and an inspirational journey. Should be required reading for all wayward teenage girls, and their mothers, too.” ~ Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of National Book Award Finalist, American Salvage, and critically acclaimed Once Upon a River,and Mothers, Tell Your Daughters

“With tenderness, but without blinking, Linda K. Sienkiewicz turns her eye on the predator-prey savannah of the young and still somehow hopeful.” ~ Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of the #1 NY Times Bestseller,Deep End of the Ocean